Turnip Seed For Deer Food Plots

Turnip Seed For Deer Food Plots - Turnips are a member of the brassica family and deer love them. Turnips are an efficient food plot crop in that deer will consume the whole turnip right down to the root and every part of a turnip plant contains protein. Long consumed by humans, turnips are making a resounding impact in the world of deer food plots as well as in livestock pasture and farm cover crop usage. This is especially true for the popular purple top turnips.

Turnips become more palatable to deer after a good frost or snow as the leaves become sweeter.Turnips are a cool season crop that is well adapted for the northern USA, but also may be planted in the Southern states during the cool weather season.

Seedland is happy to offer the turnip seed products listed below. Please click on the products for detailed information.

Growing Turnips for Food Plots Or Pastures

Deer and Livestock graze turnip tops and roots readily with this Brassica family of forage being of high quality.
The development of turnip varieties with partially exposed roots rendered the roots more available to grazing animals. In general, the root Brassicas are fast-growing, high yielding and well adapted to seeding into existing food plots or pastures with little or no tillage or to seeding into a conventionally prepared seedbed.

Areas Of Adaptation For Turnips

Turnips are a cool-weather crop and well adapted for the northern parts of the United States and Europe and for Great Britain and Canada. However, truck-growing areas of the South also produce turnip roots and greens in all seasons for human consumption.
The storage root can overwinter in areas of mild winter or with adequate snow cover for insulation and produce 8 to 10 leaves from the crown in a broad, low-spreading growth habit the following spring.

Nutrition Info For Turnips in Food Plots or Pasture

Turnip produces high-quality forage if grazed before heading. Deer and Livestock eat the stems, leaves and roots of turnip plants. Above-ground parts normally contain 20 to 25% crude protein, 65 to 80% in vitro digestible dry matter (IVDDM), about 20% neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and about 23% acid detergent fiber (ADF). The roots contain 10 to 14% crude protein and 80 to 85% IVDDM. It is recommended that turnips be planted and grazed along with other food plot or pasture crops such as winter grasses such as rye grass.

Climate, Soil, & Fertilization of Turnips

Brassicas, such as turnips, are both cold-hardy and drought-tolerant. They can be planted late-even as a second crop-and provide high-quality grazing late in the fall. Turnip planted in July will provide grazing from September to November. The most vigorous root growth takes place during periods of low temperature (40 to 60°F) in the fall. The leaves maintain their nutritional quality even after repeated exposure to frost.

Like other Brassicas, turnip grows best in a moderately deep loam, fertile and slightly acid soil. Turnip does not do well in soils that are of high clay texture, wet or poorly drained. For good root growth turnip needs a loose, well aerated soil.

Soil tests should be taken to assure proper fertilization of Turnips and other Brassicas. Lime acid soils to pH 6.0. Fertilizers should be applied at the time of seeding or within 3 days of seeding to give the crop a competitive edge on weeds. Apply 100 lb/acre nitrogen to soils containing 2 to 5% organic matter, 120 lb/acre if less than 2% organic matter and 60 to 80 lb/acre if more than 5% organic matter. Requirements for phosphorus and potassium are similar to those of a small grain.

Fertilizer applications should be banded at least 2 in. to the side and below the seed or broadcast. Boron and sulfur may also be needed. If the soil tests "low" in boron, apply 1 lb boron/acre on sandy soils, and twice this amount on other soils. Apply 10 to 15 lb of S/acre if a soil sulfur test indicates a need for this element.

Planting Turnips For Food Plots & Pasture

Method and Rate of Seeding: Turnip seed can be planted in 6 to 8 in. rows at a rate of 1.5 to 2.5 lb/acre with a minimum-till drill when sod seeding. In conventionally prepared seedbeds, the crop can be seeded with a forage crop seeder or broadcast followed by cultipacking. The seed should not be covered with more than 1/4 in. of soil. A plant population of 5 to 6 per sq. ft. is desirable.

Seedland ships to all
50 US states + US territories of Puerto Rico, Guam & Virgin Islands.UPS GROUND: We do
NOT offer UPS Ground shipments to locations outside the 48 US mainland states.
Shipments to Puerto Rico, Guam and Virgin Islands can only ship via USPS Priority Mail (No UPS).Shipments to Alaska and Hawaii must ship either Priority Mail or UPS Next Day or UPS 2nd Day Air.All Ground UPS rates quoted are valid ONLY for shipment to locations in the 48 mainland US states.

DELIVERY TIME: Most items ship within 24 to 72 hours (1-3 days) and generally take 2-10 days for delivery to be completed, depending on the item shipment location and your ship-to destination. (NOTE: No shipments delivered on weekends)

ORDER INFORMATION:We reserve the right to cancel any orders for products or seeds in which either the items are no longer available or discontinued. On items in which the pricing was listed incorrectly online due to an error in pricing correctly, we will contact you with the corrected price. For our retail customers we will offer you the wholesale price for that particular item, however pricing errors will NOT be honored at the incorrect "error" price. Any product that displays a zero price ("$0.00") is considered to be out of stock item. Usually the product will also be marked as SOLD OUT, however in some cases only a zero price may display. Customers will be notified the actual normal price on zero price items once the item becomes available. Out of stock (SOLD OUT) items will not be billed, backordered or shipped unless you specifically contact us requesting an order be shipped when available - You will be notified of the item price on any out of stock item that you request to be shipped later. You may call and request that an out of stock item be shipped as soon as it returns to stock availability. All sales are not completed or accepted until payment has been completed, at that point shipment of product orders will occur.

For added security, we do NOT immediately process credit card orders live online. Your order is first reviewed by a sales specialist for any changes, questions or corrections. After review, your order is then processed securely and items are scheduled for shipment. For additional company information and policies visit
Seedland.com -
Seedland can only assist with commercial quantities for shipments of seeds outside the USA, please read our export policy link above. Note that we do NOT ship or export fertilizers, spreaders or other manufactured merchandise outside the US states. For returns please review our return policy listed at the link above. Most items ship within 24 to 72 hours (1-3 days) and generally take 2-10 days for delivery depending on item shipment location and your location. We can not guarantee immediate same day shipment on expedited items but will try and ship these requests as quickly as possible. Live plants and grass plugs do NOT immediately ship after your order is processed. See our shipment policy on these items.

SHIPPING NOTE: We ship most online orders VIA UPS Ground (United Parcel Service) for economical & fast service. Items often ship from multiple locations (Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois and Oregon / Depending on item ordered) Most UPS orders ship and arrive in 1-7 working days (Mon-Fri). See additional information below for shipments to Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam and USVI. In some cases an additional handling charge may be included in the total cost of the shipping charges listed for your order.

IMPORTANT SHIPPING DETAILS: We can NOT guarantee SAME DAY shipment of Priority Mail, UPS Next Day, UPS Second Day or UPS 3 Day shipments. We will make every attempt to ship the same day your order is placed (If placed prior to 3 PM EST Mon-Fri), but we can NOT guarantee immediate same day shipment. Note that UPS does NOT deliver on Saturday with the methods of shipment we offer. Priority mail items usually ship 1-2 working days AFTER the day your order is placed. All shipments and processing of orders are based on working days (Monday - Friday). UPS & MAIL shipping charges include a packaging and handling fee in the total shipping cost. Seedland's UPS Ground shipping cost is same price for shipping to any of the USA 48 mainland states. Shipping is based on total weight of items shipped at same time in any one order.